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[torqpoc]

Hello,
I thought i'd share some of the pearls of wisdom I managed to learn as a network engineer and send a warning out to those using BTHomehubs.

Firstly a quick explanation, WLAN stands for Wireless Local Area Network and is the term used to denote your router/laptop/WLAN cards ability to send information over the 2.4ghz or 5Ghz frequencies.

2.4Ghz is for 802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11n although this one works a little bit differently.
5Ghz is for the slightly less common 802.11a and also 802.11n in certain respects afaik.

Anyway onto the crux of this topic. WEP encryption at any level is crackable, without too much knowledge or technilogical gizmos and can be done quite easily depending on the number of IV "segments" which can be listened to. All you need is a promiscuous (oooerrr!) wireless card, which can be found very very easily. I have 2.. both bought of Ebay.

So, essentially if someone has the right software (google Wep encryption cracking if you are interested), the right promiscuous WNIC and time, they can get your encryption key in anything from 4 seconds to let's say 5 minutes. 5 minutes is a damn long time and anyone with a bit of knowledge can usually do it in 2 minutes.

Right-o so basically WEP encryption is pants. Why should you be worried? Well pretty much every single BTHomeHub thingy out there is using WEP. Albeit 256 with rotating keys in certain cases, which means you would need to crack it periodically, but.. this is the main issue, they all have default passwords. This means if you're using one of these gizmos you're potentially broadcasting a easy to crack SSID, and anyone feeling naughty/nasty could be looking at things they shouldn't be.

WPA (and WPA2) uses much harder to crack encryption such as TKIP or AES. Both of which are nigh on impossible to "crack". You can use dictionary type attacks, man in the middle type attacks, but the end result is that it's not a simple question of sitting in a car outside your house and getting into your network in a couple of minutes easy.

What should you do if you're concerned? If you have the know-how, go ahead and change your "type" of wireless network to WPA, if not WPA2 (bearing in mind you need at least XP SP3 to connect to WPA2). Important to note, I believe this will invalidate your BTHomeHub support. I've done this for numerous friends and if you encounter a problem the person on the end of the phone will usually tell you "what does the sticker on the bottom of the HomeHub say" which is where the standard WEP key is located.

If you don't have the know-how, and feel like giving BT a hard time.. or any other provider who are sending you a router with WEP encryption enabled, then i'd very strongly recommend you contact them ASAP.

The reason for this post is that I saw Google have kindly published all the wireless networks for any savvy engineer to go and crack, which I find worrying.

If I was too technical, or not techhie enough then feel free to PM me, i'm more than happy to help.. or simply google as I said and you'll see the information there.

Cheers,
T

[torqpoc]

Doh... I just saw Kitz had already posted about this.

Asking for this topic to be deleted... damn I must be getting so old I can't even see things anymore..

Sorry,
T

[roseway]

I won't delete it, because it's a message which is definitely worth repeating. No apology needed.

[torqpoc]

Hello again,
Okie dokie Roseway, as per my PM to you here is some additional information which I personally find concerning also.

After doing numerous wireless surveys i've started to see BTHomeHubs broadcasting one of, or both of these SSIDs:
BTFon
BTOpenzone.

They are both unencrypted, and using 802.11g. I believe this following link explains what is going on. I remember reading about this a while ago and though it would never be done, but as far as I am aware this was pushed to some, if not all, HomeHubs recently. I only saw this a month ago for the first time:
http://www.btfon.com/support/faqs

If you didn't sign up for BTFon, i'd strongly urge you to contact BT and ask to be removed from this scheme. If I am right and this is an enforced step by BT in their desire to create what are called MetroLans, ie open networking areas for people to connect to, using the bandwidth you contractually pay for, then it's a bit shocking. Unencrypted wireless networks are an open door to naughty people.

Edit: It is entirely possible that BT are using technology such as those found in hotels, whereby you connect to an unencrypted SSID, are forced via proxy forwarding to a "page" which asks you for username and password. I haven't tested these open SSIDs as i'm not a naughty person =). This is somewhat secure, but the information you send is still at base level unencrypted. So I would strongly urge noone to connect to these to do homebanking or similar activities as it's again quite easy to listen to this traffic.

I hope this was helpful..

Cheers,
T

[stevie]

I won't delete it, because it's a message which is definitely worth repeating. No apology needed.

Good call.

The third post by torqpoc is also another set of details that folks need to be aware of.

Whilst many of those in the know...<know about this>...there are many who are simply oblivious to these issues.

Steve

[Browni]

Good posts torqpoc.

O2 also issue routers with only WEP security enabled by default so your advice will apply to O2 users as well.